 Hi everyone, my name is Steph, this is Little Bookish Teacher and welcome or welcome back to my channel. Today I'm here to review Smartie Pop 2, JJ and the Giant Panther by Arndo. This is a really gorgeous series written by Arndo that is junior fiction slash middle grade age or younger middle age because there's quite a lot of text in here and some really great themes that are explored. The Smartie Pop series is the only of Arndo's series that is published in full color illustrations the whole way through. The very first story we're introduced to JJ and his owner Lily and one night JJ happens to get some intergalactic slime on him and wakes up and is suddenly super smart and can talk and is sort of the brains behind any operation that he and Lily get involved in and in this particular book, they're going camping and at first JJ is not allowed to go on the camping trip because he's not a person but the kids all want JJ to go along with him and so he's eventually allowed and this is a camping trip that encourages kids to work together and to be brave and try new things. And so JJ and Lily are in a trio as they have to complete various challenges while they're camping. And despite the fact that JJ is very smart and thinks that he's very brave, he is utterly terrified of cats and he keeps thinking that he's hearing a Panther in the bushes, which terrifies him. This is such a fun little story and it's got some great messages around friendship, around being brave and courageous and encouraging other people when they're feeling uncomfortable in new situations particularly as all of these kids are exploring and trying new things that are kind of scary for them like abseiling. I also like that it explores different types of bravery and that bravery is not just doing the scariest thing for anyone. Sometimes bravery is quiet and sometimes it's just about knowing what you can do and doing the little things to help other people that may not necessarily be showy and out there. Being an Ando book, it is very funny and there are a lot of jokes in here that kids will find hilarious. As I said, you've got full color, bright illustrations the whole way through that make it really entertaining. You also have keywords that have a different font or have been made bigger or bolder to help point them out and make sure kids know that those are important. That's also really great for when you're reading aloud so you know where to read with expression. It does have the cute factor because lots of kids in this age category which is probably for seven to 10 year olds, they love dogs, they love animals. JJ is a talking dog who's very cute and gets into all sorts of mischief. I suppose the other thing to mention in here is Lily and JJ live with Lily's dad. So this is a single parent story and we know from the first book that Lily's mother has passed away previously that's all happened off page but she is mentioned and Lily does have memories of her mother. And I think it's really great because it shows how a child is still grieving the loss of a parent but is also remembering the positive things and remembering the positive impact that her parent has had on her life. And with that theme of bravery, sometimes being brave is just being strong and thinking about the way that you can be the best possible version of yourself which is some of the memories that she has of her mother. This is a really fun series. I know lots of kids who absolutely love it and they'll be really excited to see book two come out because it's been a while since book one was first released. And also here in Australia at least they also get a set of stickers at the back of the book which is always fun. But yeah, like this is one of my favorite of Ando's series just because of how adorable and entertaining it is and how can you pass up something that's in full color? I will leave links and information for the Smartie Pop series down below. I'd love to know if you've read it or if you're planning on picking it up or if you just want to let me know that you're here but you don't want to leave a comment feel free to leave a puppy emoji down below. I hope that we're around the world just staying safe and healthy and I will see you in my next video. Thanks so much for watching. Bye everyone.